


the sun shone on our honeymoon

by Blanchette (Guinevak)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Banter, Domesticity, F/F, Open Relationships, Partings, Reunions, Shore Leave, space travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:28:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22603237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guinevak/pseuds/Blanchette
Summary: Solaria’s captain has a girl in every port, but only one true love.
Relationships: Female sentient spaceship/female spaceship captain, Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Comments: 15
Kudos: 29
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	the sun shone on our honeymoon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Icie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icie/gifts).



The station rim is vast, open-air walkways stacked far overhead, and as noisy as space is silent. Sound echoes from every direction: the clanks and thumps of the docking machinery, the hum of trams passing overhead, music pouring from a hundred speakers, and voices everywhere. One voice makes itself heard above the others, here outside the particular berth: a mellow, feminine voice: “Boarding call for _Solaria_. Departing for Callisto via Paradox Point at 1830. Please have your boarding pass ready.” 

Shenai lingers a moment on the gangway, twining her fingers with Alma’s, and tugs her in for a last warm kiss. Alma sighs, runs her free hand through Shenai’s short, silvering hair. “Be safe out there.”

Shenai smiles up at her. “Safe as I can be,” she says with absolute confidence. “You be well.”

Alma smiles back a little wistfully, and lets her go. She’s not the longest-standing of Shenai’s girlfriends, nor the liveliest or even the prettiest, but there’s a warmth in her that Shenai appreciates, a generosity. She never makes scenes, never begrudges. 

“Boarding call for _Solaria_.”

“I’ll see you,” Shenai says, and blows a kiss before she turns away.

* * *

She’s nothing much to look at, _Solaria_. Certainly not from the outside - sleek lines and smooth paint don’t matter in space; and inside she’s comfortable but well-worn, without elegance. She carries mostly passengers and mail, the occasional load of low-mass luxuries: an unpretentious ship. Shenai, emerging from the airlock into the familiar corridor, is overcome by a wave of fondness. “Honey, I’m home,” she murmurs.

The same smooth voice answers from the walls. “Welcome aboard, captain.”

 _Miss me?_ she wants to ask, but there’s work to do right now, and she stows the whim and heads for the bridge. 

She’s not the first back, not the last either. Junpei and Keri are already at controls, going quietly through their checklists; Chiyo, as usual, will probably turn up at last call and not before. 

“How are we doing?”

“On schedule,” says practical Junpei. “Systems normal. Callistans all boarded half an hour ago, still waiting on the other passenger.”

“And Chiyo.”

She can see a grin flash across his face, even in profile. “Goes without saying.”

“One of these days I swear we’re leaving em behind,” Shenai says.

“It is a breach of regulations to abandon any member of regular crew outside a home port.”

Shenai tips her head back to address the ceiling. “I know. I just have to make the threat, otherwise ey’ll never show.”

“Superstition,” says the voice of _Solaria_ , primly.

“Humor me. How are _you_ today?”

“Systems normal, captain.”

 _Quit being silly._ “All right, all right,” she says over Junpei’s chuckle, and settles into her seat. The cushions are getting threadbare, but they welcome her tired bones in a familiar embrace as she keys into her own console. Panels come to life in a ripple of light and muted sound that Shenai knows as well as her own name. The way her heart leaps up at the sight, though, feels new every time, and she thinks it always will.

* * *

Chiyo tumbles in five minutes before undock, bubbling with apologies. “Relax,” Shenai tells em. “You’re not the last for once. Still waiting on a passenger.”

“Seriously? Gods between.” Chiyo fluffs eir hair, dropping into the empty seat. “I hope you told him no refunds. How’s what’s her name?”

“Alma?” She’s not entirely paying attention, watching the chronometer tick down. “She’s fine.”

“Good, I like her.” The tone is serious suddenly. Shenai suppresses a sigh. It’s been a while since Chiyo tried to convince her she ought to settle down with someone, but apparently ey hasn’t given up.

“I like her too,” she says mildly. 

Mercifully, _Solaria_ cuts off further discussion by announcing, “All passengers have now boarded. Departing on schedule for Paradox Point.”

“Beautiful.” Shenai leans over to cut the PA on. She could deliver this speech in her sleep - in fact she’s fairly sure she has, once or thrice - and half her mind is drifting longingly toward a shower and her bunk, even as she rattles off the usual pleasantries and cautions. Her own bed, God, with her own sheets - station lodgings never have decent sheets - in her own room, snug inside _Solaria_. Her eyes drift shut for a moment at the thought.

“…when we are inertial. In the meantime, please ask the AI for assistance should you need anything else. Thank you for your attention, gentlefolk, and once again, welcome aboard.”

* * *

As the door of her cabin shuts behind her, she hears the shower turn on. “Bless you,” she says fervently. 

A low hum emerges from the walls: _Solaria_ , smiling. 

“Please put your clothing in the laundry compartment.”

“Don’t be a nag,” Shenai says, beginning to strip off her shore-going rig, the flashy vest and silky shirt. 

“Clothing left on the deck cannot be cleaned by the system.”

“Nag, nag, nag. When was the last time I left them lying on—”

“Three hundred seventy-five hours prior to last docking.”

Shenai pauses, pants around her ankles. “I did do that, didn’t I.”

 _Solaria_ doesn’t dignify that with a response, which is fair enough. Shenai finishes undressing, shoves the whole armful into the laundry slot, and steps into the shower. The water is hot, almost scalding after the stationside chill, a fine, diffuse spray. “Oh, God, that’s perfect. You’re too good to me.”

The walls hum again, a vibration she feels more than hears through the white noise of the shower, stroking the soles of her feet. When she leans back against the wall she can feel it tingling in her spine, and she hums too, low in her throat, arching into the spray until it devolves into a moan.

“Was your sexual encounter satisfactory?”

Shenai chokes, then coughs with laughter. “Well, when you say it like that it sounds bad.”

“I will rephrase,” _Solaria_ says mildly.

“No, no, I’m teasing. Humor.” She rights herself, gives the shower wall a pat. “I had a very nice time. But she isn’t you.”

“Acknowledged.”

Shenai can never be sure if she’s imagining that note of smug satisfaction. She likes to think she’s not.

**Author's Note:**

> Man, it has been a minute since I wrote original fic. Slight liberties taken with the prompt, but I hope it pleases!


End file.
